Still Work to Do: Report Examines Pay Equity Progress in Connecticut State Government

A new report offers a glimpse into pay equity efforts at the state government level, and shows that progress has been made, but more work remains to be done.

On June 18, Connecticut State Comptroller Sean Scanlon shared findings from “Post-Retirement Tsunami: Trends in Representation and Pay Equity in CT State Government,” the third installment in a collaboration between Scanlon’s office and Mohamad Alkadry, professor and director of the University of Connecticut’s School of Public Policy.

“Following the 2022 retirement ‘tsunami,’ thousands of employees left state service,” according to a statement from Comptroller Scanlon’s office, which notes that roughly 5,400 have joined the Connecticut government workforce in the last three years. The aim of this research was to “examine the representation and pay equity of this new cohort, to see if existing policies and recruitment strategies are working to build a more diverse and equitably compensated workforce.”

Overall, the latest report finds that “further work is needed to achieve pay equity in state government,” according to the aforementioned statement. For example, Asian men and women entering Connecticut state service in the past three years are the highest earners compared to their colleagues, bringing in 117% and 112% of the average White male’s salary.

(For the study, the researchers set the average salary of white males working in Connecticut government at 100%, and then compared each race-gender category as a percentage of White male average pay.)

White women in this group are bringing in 103% of what their White male counterparts take home, while Black women and men are earning 91% and 86% of the average White male salary throughout Connecticut’s government workforce, respectively.

Hispanic men and women in Connecticut state government are currently earning 83% and 89% of what the average White male in Connecticut state service earns, respectively. This represents the state’s greatest diversity gap, according to the report. “This is true for both longer-term employees and new hires, which means that current policies and practices are not overcoming the pitfalls of past policies and practices.”

Each state agency “has its own individualized challenges,” the report continued, “meaning that there is no all-encompassing solution to the disparities noted. Instead, achieving representation and pay equity requires individualized strategies to address challenges pertinent to each body.”

Saying that his office is committed to transparency “even when the data may not showcase the progress we aspire to make,” Comptroller Scanlon noted in a statement that these findings “reinforce the fact that, as a state, we must continue to prioritize equity and diversity in our workforce.”